RHS cross country hosts Rolla Invitational

The weather was hot and so were the finishes for the host Rolla High School cross country team at the annual Rolla Bulldog Invitational, held Thursday at Rolla Lions Club Park.

Rolla had full teams for the boys' varsity, girls' varsity and boys' junior varsity races and won all three.

In the five-team girls' varsity race Rolla won with 32 points while Blair Oaks was runner-up with 59. In the seven-team boys' varsity field Rolla won with 55 points while Camdenton was second with 69 and Waynesville third with 78. Rolla also won the boys' jayvee race with 21 points while Waynesville was second with 42.

Rolla had two of the top three runners in the girls' race. Lady Bulldog freshman Addy Brow was girls' medalist with a time of 20:29.53 while senior teammate Shannon McCaul was third with 20:51.

Washington's Travis Elbert won the boys' varsity race with a time of 16:58 while Waynesville's Najim Udchachon was second at 17:09.72.

Rolla's James Kosbar was third at 17:10.78 while Dalton Rabenau was fifth at 17:22.03 and Liam Jennings 10th at 17:57.85.

Rolla finished 2-5 in the boys' jayvee race, led by Ben Hushaw second at 19:57.95.

In the girls' jayvee race Rolla's Jazmyn Youngblood won at 23:58.31.

"We ran really well," said RHS coach Don Knapp. "We had only three team scores and won all three. It wasn't as fast as our first race of the year because it was so hot. And our times were better than (last week) on the hilly course (at the Hazelwood Central Invitational). But the effort of the kids was great.

"Our top two girls and top three boys in the varsity races had very impressive runs. Brow and McCaul in the girls ran quality races. In the boys Kosbar and Rabenau were in the top five all the way and Liam Jennings had a great last mile to move into the top-10."

The Bulldogs are slated to compete again in the Dixon Invitational on Monday (4 p.m.).